DOWNTOWN — Tickets for the town’s third NASCAR Chicago Road Race go on sale Monday — and so they’re cheaper than in previous years.
NASCAR’s Chicago Road Race Weekend returns July 5-6 for the NASCAR Cup Collection and NASCAR Xfinity Collection alongside the identical earlier 12-turn, 2.2-mile avenue course.
The racing firm introduced Thursday it dropped the value of its tickets for its third 12 months in Grant Park along with increasing its free basic admission tickets for youths 12 and below to each Saturday and Sunday.
A single-day basic admission ticket will value $99, down from $150 final 12 months. The price for a two-day basic admission ticket might be $150, down from $269. Reserved seating begins at $200, with Frontstretch Premium Reserved seats priced at $350 — almost a 50 % lower from final 12 months, NASCAR stated in a press launch.
Moreover, NASCAR stated it is going to scale back the time it spends constructing the course by greater than per week.
“In contrast to occasions at brick-and-mortar stadiums, we now have a novel alternative to repeatedly refine each ingredient of our race based mostly on key learnings and suggestions from attendees and our neighbors in Chicago,” Julie Giese, president of NASCAR Chicago Road Race, stated in an announcement. “We’ve listened to their suggestions, and we’re being much more inventive this 12 months – optimizing our product choices whereas persevering with to search for methods to be good neighbors by lowering the set-up and tear-down time even additional.”
NASCAR initially confronted backlash in its first 12 months for taking 41 days to construct and teardown the occasion footprint, making a number of areas of Grant Park inaccessible. Final 12 months NASCAR was in a position to scale back that timeframe to 29 days.
The occasion has additionally been controversial with some neighbors and elected officers who stated the race inconveniences locals, cordons off a significant public park in the course of the summer time months, and doesn’t make monetary sense for the town. Grant Park distributors have additionally had points getting buyout agreements and being paid on time.
Final 12 months, NASCAR generated $128 million in whole financial influence for the town, a 17 % improve from 2023, in accordance with a Temple College examine commissioned by the town’s tourism bureau, Select Chicago.
Though the 2024 NASCAR Chicago Road Race proved to be extra worthwhile than its inaugural race, attendance was down from the earlier 12 months.
Final 12 months, 53,063 individuals attended the NASCAR Road Race, up from 47,405 in 2023, the examine confirmed. Total, 74,922 attendees have been counted for the occasion’s two days, down from 79,299 in 2023. The addition of single-day tickets contributed to the attendance discrepancies, in accordance with NASCAR officers.
The debut 2023 fell in need of the 100,000 attendees organizers predicted. It generated $109 million in financial exercise and $8.3 million in native and state taxes, in accordance with an financial influence report from Temple College.
NASCAR’s contract supplies for 3 years of racing in Grant Park with an possibility to increase for 2 years in 2026 and 2027.
To buy tickets to the Chicago Road Race go to nascarchicago.com
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